Oh how the tables have turned...
Months ago in December-February, the Raptors had climbed to 5th place in the Eastern Conference and all seemed to be going well. Then came the All-Star Break in Mid-February with Bosh and DeRozan representing the team in Dallas (DeRozan lost to now 3-time Slam Dunk Contest winner Nate Robinson; Bosh hit the game-winning free throws for the Eastern Conference All-Stars). Afterwards, the Raptors played host to the Memphis Grizzlies and lost in a heartbreaking thriller as Bosh sprained his ankle in that game. Since then, the team has climbed steadily downward in the East standings and now find themselves just HALF a game ahead of the Chicago Bulls for 8th. This came after Toronto was defeated at home last night by the 4th-place Boston Celtics 115-104. Coming into that game, the team was shorthanded after losing Bosh for the remainder of the year following a 1st-quarter injury in Cleveland which fractured bones just below his right eye and also his nose (Toronto lost the game, which you can follow the link about in my previous post). Last night during the game, 4 MORE Raptors became injured: Hedo Turkoglu (injured in similar area as Bosh, only Bosh's injury is a nasal fracture while Turkoglu's is a nasal contusion), Antoine Wright (sprained ankle, but played through it vs Boston), Jarret Jack (rolled his ankle in game) and Amir Johnson (smacked into Boston forward Glen Davis and was injured). This meant that Sonny Weems (who scored 21 points) and a much shorter bench would have to shoulder the load, and they did: 58 of the Raptors points were scored by the bench. Boston by contrast only scored 46 bench points. All this despite the fact that Turkoglu will likely miss the remainder of the Raptors 2009-2010 season with his injury, just like Chris Bosh. Other shocking facts about the game were: 12 Raptors free throw attempts to Boston's 33, and a 41.7% shooting mark for the Raptors starters (20-48 shooting). It wasn't all doom and gloom for T.O. however. The team actually led 54-52 at the end of the half and stuck with Boston until the 4th quarter when Boston put the Raptors to bed. It was all because of Celtics stars Ray Allen and Michael Finley. They pushed the Boston lead to 13 before the Raptors went on a 10-3 run which ended - with all things - a Jarret Jack hook shot? Yes, a hook shot by the Raptors reserve point guard! (Makes me wonder what this man has been eating for breakfast: first a dunk in Minnesota and now this!) This brought the Raptors to within six with roughly 4 minutes to play in the 4th quarter, but on the next play Celtics All-Star point guard Rajan Rondo hit a layup plus the ensuing free throw to give Boston a 9-point lead. From then on, the Raptors couldn't bring the game any closer and lost. (Rondo, by the way, scored 16 of his 21 points in the second half.) So, that's a rap. Here is the recap for the game: Raptors vs Celtics
A kick in the stomach: it can leave you breathless and pained, not to mention angry and vengeful. This is exactly how the London Knights feel after their 8-7 OT slugfest which took place last night in Kitchener vs the Rangers. The Knights (especially general manager Mark Hunter) argued and protested against the goal, claiming that it was kicked in off a Ranger skate. However, the video review couldn't dig out a kicking motion on the goal. This goal was credited to Rangers forward Jason Akeson who claims the puck simply rolled off his leg and skate and into the net past goalie Michael Hutchinson. However, if Akeson didn't kick in the puck, why then was Kitchener Ranger Jeff Skinner (who scored a hat-trick in the game) already in the goal crease? Oh, suspicions, suspicions...
Other suspicious moments in the game include: Akeson taking a simply ILLEGAL run at Knights star Nazem Kadri earlier on in the game, leading to a fight between Akeson of the Rangers and Daniel Erlich of the Knights. Needless to say, Erlich took an instigator penalty for it. There was also a mini game of "musical goalies" for the Knights: " Big Hutch was yanked after Skinner made it 6-5 in the third. Mike Houser made his OHL playoff debut, stopped five of six, held the fort while the Knights rallied with two late goals in 39 seconds, then Hutchinson returned again." (from the Knights official recap of the game which I will link to at the end of this post) An eye-opening statistic for this slugfest is: 40 Ranger shots on goal and 37 Knights shots. I've already mentioned how Jeff Skinner scored 3 goals, so here are the other Kitchener goals: Catenacci, Murphy, Moore (who scored 2), and Akeson (who scored the overtime winner). Goals for the Knights were: Pieter Schinkelshoek, Tyler Brown, Nazem Kadri (who scored 2), Jared Knight, Colin Martin and Steven Sanza. Suffice it to say that the Knights will need to give it their all in order to defeat the Rangers in Game 5 tonight at the JLC. Start time is at 7 PM and the game can be listened to on AM 1290 CJBK or on the Knights website. I'll be back later to blog about that game, and possibly the Raptors game tomorrow vs the Atlanta Hawks at the ACC. Start time for that game is 7:30 PM on TSN. So long, everybody; have a good night!
Here is the recap for the Knights game: Knights vs Rangers: Game 4
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